Snow making saving the season right now for Lake Tahoe ski resorts

The Lake Tahoe basin’s snowpack is only 37 percent of average for the date heading into Jaunuary 2014.

Heavenly Mountain Resort

Due to a lack of natural snow thus far, snow making has been relied onmore than usual by Lake Tahoe’s 14 ski resorts, which were all open bythe middle of December.

One might say that snow-making is saving the Lake Tahoe ski industry right now.

The snow making, combined with mostly cold temperatures in December,salvaged what could have been a horrible holiday season for Lake Tahoeski resorts. The Christmas holidays are typically the busiest time ofyear for Tahoe resorts.

The Lake Tahoe basin’s snowpack is only 37 percent of average for thedate, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Dry conditions were matched with cold temperatures, allowing the LakeTahoe ski resorts to use snow making equipment to open substantialterrain for the busy holiday period.

“We had some real strong windows that allowed us to make a ton ofsnow,” said Mike Pierce, marketing director at Mount Rose skiresort said in the Gazette-Journal story. “Yes, we’d love to have moresnow, but we do have what people are looking for right now.”

Heavenly Mountain and Northstar California, both owned by VailResorts, possess the two largest snow-making systems in the West,according to company spokesman Russ Pecoraro.

At Heavenly, Pecoraro said snow guns can cover 73 percent of theresort with man-made snow. On Christmas, Heavenly had 19 liftsoperating in both Nevada and California, accessing more than 13 milesof skiable terrain.

“Snow making is what makes the difference,” Pecoraro said.

Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows, which combined operations in 2011 toform the largest ski resort in the country in terms of skiable acres,also understand the impact of snow making.

The two resorts have made $70 million worth of mountain upgrades andhave made a commitment to expand snow-making capabilities, spending$5.2 million since 2012.

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For the past 16 years, Jeffrey has been providing unique coverage of skiing and snowboarding for the beautiful Lake Tahoe region and other popular Northern California resorts. An award-winning writer, editor and veteran of 22 years in the newspaper business, Jeffrey has been an avid skier for nearly four decades. He is currently a Vice President for Halldin Public Relations in Roseville. He is married and has one daughter. Email at skiweidel@yahoo.com.